The Story of Dante

[Megaguirus]

Before you get reading, let's have some backstory. This book was one of my first. I started it sometime in 2010 or 2011 and finished it around 2012. I was inspired to write it after talking to my Folkmanis griffin named Dante (I talked to my stuffed animals a lot). What you are about to read is the rewrite of the original story, since the first copy of it has many flaws (this one probably does too, but not as many as before, trust me).

As always, critique and commenting is welcome! Hope you enjoy!

For centuries, griffins and dragons have been at odds with each other. To where it's gotten to a point where both are near extinction and living separate lives in the same island, hoping to never cross paths with each other.
An old dragon legend tells about this great golden dragon who was part griffin, and how he brought the two warring species together. Once he was dead, the island fell back into chaos, but not without a few dragons hoping that one day The Great One, Dante, would return.
Turns out The Great One does return, but not by reincarnation. One orphaned griffin just so happens to not only be named after The Great One, but grows up to be part dragon. Now thrust in-between two warring sides, Dante must take the burden that his parents laid on him and bring griffins and dragons back together. Which is easier said than done.

[Megaguirus]

Like all griffins, I hatched completely helpless. Wet, tired from breaking out of my egg, covered only in down and blind, I was easy prey for predators, especially dragons, the most feared enemy of griffins. I let out with chirping cries to tell my parents of my arrival, but they didn’t call back. I squirmed along the ground, trying to find their warmth.

My cries grew louder and more desperate. Where were they? I heard them last night through my eggshell, what happened to them? Suddenly, a griffin cry broke the air and I lifted my head but it quickly fell back to the ground. My tiny heart thumped excitedly in my chest. Was that my mother? My father?

I didn’t recognize the call, however, but maybe it sounded different from inside the egg. I called back with my desperate chirps and continued to do so even when I heard the griffin land. It let out with a desperate caw when it noticed me squirming towards it. I churred happily as I felt its soft feathers rub against my wet down.

“Oh my goodness, look at you! You’re so tiny and adorable, but where are your parents?” the griffin cooed. It was a female, but definitely wasn’t my mother. Not that I mattered, it was another warm body, that was all that I cared about.

I only replied with a chirp, too young to speak.

I felt the griffin scoop me up in her talon and walk away from my egg. When the sunlight hit my closed eyes, I knew I must’ve hatched in a cave. “Don’t worry, little one, we’ll figure what happened to your parents. But first, I must get you to the flock. Not even I am safe here.” she told me and took to the air, clutching me to her warm chest.

Her gently beating heart was comforting and I quickly fell asleep. It wasn’t that long of a sleep, though, because soon I was woken by her landing.

“Lofty, where were you? Hunting had ended.” a strong and loud voice boomed. “What is that you have in your talons?”

“I was investigating desperate cries I heard when I was coming back from hunting. Turned out, only a few miles from our Circle of Mountains, there was newborn griffling all alone in a cave. So of course I took it in.” Lofty replied to the loud griffin and pulled me away from her chest to show me to him.

I still couldn’t open my eyes, and I began to make a fuss since I was pulled away from her warmth. I quieted when the Lofty pulled me back to her chest.

The loud griffin snorted. “Probably from that defiant couple who decided to nest away from the Circle. I told them what would happen to griffins who nested out of the Circle. They were probably killed and eaten by those monstrous dragons, who knew they were easy prey.”

I froze at the loud griffin’s words.

“Blackbird!” Lofty scolded. “Not around the griffling!”

But it was too late, I had already heard and began to let out with my very first squawks, which sounded like I was choking. I grasped Lofty’s feathers with my small talons.

“It’s better for the griffling if it knows the truth about the dragons. Don’t want any dragon-lovers in my flock.” Blackbird replied harshly.

I wasn’t even a day old, and I already hated someone. I was tried of squawking and just grasped onto Lofty’s feathers.

“What should I do with the little one, Blackbird?”

“Why don’t you take it in? After all, you are infertile and your mate died from unknown circumstances during a hunting trip. May as well care for something other than baby birds.”

Since I was clinging onto her chest feathers, I could feel her shake her head. My new mother let out with a sigh and walked away. She stopped walking once we were in a much darker area, where the sun wasn’t shining. I assumed this to be another cave.

I started fussing again when she pulled me away from her.

“It’s okay, Little One, I am only moving you to your nest.” she hushed.

She placed me on a soft bed of what felt like down. I continued to chirp until other sounds of chirping filled my young ears.

“Now look, you awoke the eaglets.” she gently scolded me.

I stopped chirping when I felt her warm body over me again, and I could hear the eaglets hush too. I wiggled my neck deep within her feathers and bumped into an eaglet who had the same idea. We both paused for a moment before deciding it was best to just cross heads. It was warmer that way.

I heard my adoptive mother chuckle softly. “Those are good chicks. Once you wake I’ll feed you again.” she cooed.

I fell asleep the minute after she was done speaking.


I woke when I noticed that the only heat around me was from the eaglets. I panicked and instinctively flicked my eyes open. They obeyed this time, and I could finally see the world.

I was tucked in a corner of a very small cave. The walls and floor were a reddish brown. The entrance was a half-circle and outside I could see creatures walking around. Their front half was covered with golden blonde feathers. They had golden beaks and golden feet. They had short ears that were also covered with feathers. I couldn’t make out the color of their eyes or claws. They also had huge wings covered with the same color feathers. Their back halves were muscular and covered with golden brown fur. Their back feet weren’t talons but instead paws. They had long tails with dark brown fluff at the tip.

Since they were the only creatures around, I assumed these were griffins. Curious to see if I looked like that, I looked down to notice pink front legs and white down. My wings were nothing more than little skinny things and my back half was covered with spots. I looked beside me and noticed my eaglet siblings. There were three of them and they were the same size as me. But they were covered with light-grey down, compared to my white.

I turned away from my siblings and decided to go back to looking at the griffins outside. One of the griffins was walking towards me with something in its beak and I began to chirp wildly. My chirping woke the eaglets, but instead of looking at the griffin with terror, they began to stretch out their necks and beg for food.

The griffin set down the fluffy thing it was carrying and smiled. “Don’t panic my Little One, it’s only me, Lofty.” she told me softly.

I quieted when she said that and smiled as well. Chirps began to exit my beak when I saw her rip a piece of meat off of the fluffy thing. I suddenly noticed how hungry I was and began to fight the eaglets for the bite of food. I was quickly shoved back by the stronger and older eaglets, and missed the piece of food.

They were so ravenous that I got pushed to the back of the nest. I didn’t even try fighting past them and just crumpled up into a little ball. Minutes of constant begging passed and I was starting to think Lofty wanted to starve me. That was when I smelled delicious food and flicked my eyes open.

She was standing above me holding the strip of meat in her beak. She was using one single talon to hold back the three hungry eaglets. I quickly accepted the food, guzzling it down with muffled chirps. That piece only wet my appetite so I was hungry for more. But I was determined to get another piece without the eaglets stealing it from me.

I began to let out with loud chirps and pushed passed the eaglets, almost climbing on one to be higher than their scrawny little necks. Lofty moved over to the nest, another strip of meat in her beak and a smile on her face. She gave the second strip to me and I graciously accepted it.

This continued until all of us were full. I huddled up with my eaglet siblings and opened my beak to let out with a large stretching yawn. I watched as Lofty stood above me and then laid down. Somehow she was able to cover me and the eaglets without crushing any of us. I stretched my neck deep into her feathers and quickly fell asleep once again.


That was what my life consisted of for maybe ten days. Eat, sleep, eat, sleep. I was growing much stronger than the eaglets, who began to molt in darker fluff. Lofty said they were three weeks older than me, so that was why they changed. The only change I had was the scales on my feet turn gold and my claws turn black.

Lofty was the only griffin I had close contact with, all the others could only be seen outside the cave. I wondered why this was. I also found that I was often awake during nights. I first thought it was because of the amount of sleep I got during the day, but the eaglets continued to sleep.

Sometimes I’d wriggle my head out from Lofty’s feathers and stare outside the cave. The first few nights it was pitch black and I saw nothing, but as the nights went on, the brighter it seemed to get. Casting a light blue glow over what I could see of the outside. It was breathtaking.

Once I tried crawling out of the nest, but my legs wouldn’t work they way I wanted them to, and I barely moved an inch. On my ninth night it was so bright that it was almost like the sun was out. If the sun was a cool light blue, of course. I jumped when I saw a large black shadow move fast outside the cave. This shadow scared me back into the sanctuary of Lofty’s feathers, but a part of me wanted to see what it was. But I wasn’t in the mood to try and walk.

The morning of my tenth day started as usual. Just as the cool light blue of the night changed into the orange glow of the sun’s awakening, a loud clang could be heard through the air. Out of each cave came a griffin each. They took to the air and were off to go hunting.

Lofty told me, without me even needing to ask, that each male from each cave went on the daily hunting trip. She told me this was because the dragons would be going to bed from their nightly activities, thus making them too tired to hunt us griffins.

I liked that she told me some things that I was curious about but still couldn’t ask about, because I still couldn’t form words. Lofty moved off of the nest and quietly walked to stand outside the cave and watch the other griffins fly off. She didn’t tell me why she did this.

Another thing she told me was that used to go on hunts but requested permission to stop so that she could focus all of her time on me. Guess I was more special than the eaglets.

Seeing my adoptive mother just stand there all alone made me want to walk towards her. So that was exactly what I did. I stood, steadying my shaky limbs. I squeezed myself out of the cluster of eaglets, I neglected to notice the nest edge and tripped, slamming my beak into the ground.

I let out with a chirp of shock and heard Lofty’s squawk of surprise. “What are you doing?!” she exclaimed quietly, as to not disturb the eaglets.

I stumbled and pulled my face off of the ground, looking up at her with an excited smile. I let out with a chirp and stepped towards her. I almost fell, but steadied myself. I let out with a happy chirp and took another step towards her.

Her look of shock turned into one of pure joy. “Oh my goodness, you’re walking! Oh my Little One, you’re walking!” she took a step back to give me more room to stretch my tiny legs.

I took another shaky step forward, almost falling down this time. I looked up at her and could see tears form in her eyes, yet she was still smiling. I simply cocked my head at this weird phenomenon and took another step, then another. I slowly took five more steps in succession.

Once I made it to her feet, I plopped myself down onto them with a playful little chirp. I rolled on my back and began to kick my hind legs while reaching for her face with my talons.

Lofty chuckled and pulled her face to where I could reach it. My tiny talon reached for her ear and caught it, pulling it to my beak. But she pulled back and instead lifted me up. I squeaked and grasped her other ear with my other talon.

We were eye to eye now. I stared deeply into her amber eyes with love. After only a minute of staring, I let out with another squeak and touched my beak to the space between her eyes.

“You’re such a clingy little thing.” she chuckled and gently shook her head back and forth. She then lowered her head to the ground and I let go.

We both had wide smiles on our faces and I began to make the walk back to the nest. It was a little quicker this time, and I nestled right back in the mass of birds. Ready to take another nap after my little adventure. Knowing that when I woke, my adoptive mother would have some food for me.

That night, I was awake once more. But since I could walk, my curiosity really got the best of me. I squeezed through the eaglets and Lofty, falling face down again. I got back to my feet and took tiny little steps to the doorway of the cave.

I sniffed the air around me and took a little peek out. Now that there were no griffins, I noticed a tall clay pillar in the center of the circle that reached higher than even the mountains themselves. I wanted to fly up there, but my wings only had fluff on them, not enough to carry me into the air.

The light blue glow that was cast over the mountaintops was mesmerizing. I was lucky enough to see the sky for the first time at night, because it was amazing compared to the light blue.

The sky was nothing but a black abyss with hundreds, if not thousands, little sparkly things floating in it. I was so enthralled that I stepped out of my cave entirely and just sat down to get an even better look at the night sky.

I felt like the moon was calling to me, wanting me to join it in that black abyss. I wanted to join it, but that had to wait. As I continued my stargazing I noticed a star dash across the sky before vanishing entirely. That blew my ten day old mind.

My little night of discovery was interrupted when something large flew over my home. It flew slow enough that I could see its slender silhouette and large wings. Its shadow scared me more though, because it was cast over everything.

I squeaked and ran back inside the cave, jumping back into my nest. I didn’t want to know whatever that thing was. I also wasn’t in any hurry to leave the nest at night again, even if I did feel the night call to me.

[Woogwoo Wren]

Wow! This is amazing! It's so well written and I want to know what will happen next!

[Megaguirus]

((Thanks!))

More uneventful days passed until I grew in my second set of fluff. But this fluff was thicker and a beautiful golden blonde. My eaglet siblings were growing fast, but I was somehow bigger than them even though they were four to five weeks old, because I had turned two weeks. Even Lofty seemed surprised at my growth rate.

I still was unable to talk, and I wondered how much longer it would be until I could start asking Lofty all of the questions I had stored. Like what was that large creature I saw that night.

The eaglets were also able to eat on their own now, but I was stuck to just having her feed me. I tried eating my own meat when nobody was looking, but failed miserably to where an eaglet took pity on me and fed me itself. I thanked it.

I was growing fond of my bird siblings and treated them as if they were my siblings. I even started to forget I was an orphan. Since we both could walk now, we started to wrestle and play while Lofty was out.

Lofty didn’t seem to give them names, just like me, and I wondered why. That was another reason why I wished I could speak, because I had a name in my head. I heard my parents use it when I was still in my egg. Dante. I was sure this was my name, because my parents called each other by different names.

The more I thought about names, the more curious I grew of Lofty’s choice to not give me. Every other griffin I knew (so two) had names, why didn’t I? Or was my name “Little One”? I hoped not, because I didn’t like it as a permanent name.

I was also curious to interact with the griffins outside, but Lofty forbid me. Telling me that I needed to bond with her so that she wouldn’t lose me to another parent. I understood that and obeyed.


Weeks passed and the eaglets and I continued to grow. I was an expert at walking and the eaglets were finally as big as me. After that one scare, I never dared venture outside at night again, even though I wanted to many times.

A great day came when I was finally able to form words. I must’ve been a month old, and I even scared myself.

“Lofty!” I greeted my adoptive mother when she came in the cave with more food. I paused and looked at my beak, making me go cross-eyed. Did those words just come out of my mouth?

“Oh, Little One, you can talk!” she exclaimed, dropping the food and running towards me.

She rubbed her beak affectionately on my fluff, and I rubbed her beak back.

Speaking didn’t come easy, though. Which was strange because she was teaching me words long before I came to this point.

“C-can you call me Dante?” I asked her after taking a minute to gather my words.

She pulled back and cocked her head. “Why?”

“My parents called me that. Can you use it?” I replied.

She smiled softly. “Of course, Dante, but you’re still my Little One.”

I smiled back. That was good enough for me.

“So, Dante, are you ready to see everybody else?” she asked me.

I just cocked my head.

“You get to leave the cave finally and interact with the others! Get to know other grifflings your age.” she replied and walked up to me, touching her beak to mine. “And I get the opportunity to show you off.”

My smile grew as wide as it could and I began to bounce up and down with excitement. “Yes! Thanks!” I simply said and followed her out of the cave.

Both of us ignored the eaglets, who had dug into the food on their own. It took me only a few seconds to adjust to the bright daylight and I could finally see what the sky looked like during the day. Not as pretty as night, that was for sure.

I stayed close beside Lofty as she led me through the crowd. It didn’t look as big from here. “How many are there?”

“Including you? Twenty four. I know that may not seem like much to you, but it’s small compared to what it used to be.” she replied.

“How many before?”

She paused. “I really don’t know. You’ve got to ask Blackbird, the Elder griffin, that.”

“The grumpy one?” I asked.

It took her a minute to remember. “Right, he was the one who said you parents were dead. Yes, the grumpy one. He’s not that grumpy most of the time.”

“So he just didn’t like me?”

“No, he just didn’t like your parents.”

“What were my parents like?” I asked her after a minute.

She stopped walking and looked at me. “From what I remember, they were rebels and were always fascinated with dragons. They even went out during nights to converse with those beasts! That was why Blackbird hated them so. He believed they were either controlled by the dragons, or were just going to lure those beasts to us unknowingly.” she replied.

The way she spoke about dragons made it out to where I pictured them as the most atrocious things imaginable. With large mouths for biting and large eyes for seeing. Unruly and unforgiving monsters.

“So dragons can come into our home at any time?” I asked her, curious by her last sentence.

“Yes and no. Yes, they can if they want to, and no because there are rules forbidding them to. Even though the number of dragons is larger than the number of us, they seem to not want another war, either. Because that’s what has kept them away, the threat of another war.” she explained.

I opened my beak to ask another question when another voice came in from in front of us.

“Lofty, how are you this fine morning?” a female voice asked.

I looked away from Lofty to see three griffins approach us. Two bigger ones, who looked like a male and female pair, with the female having less feathers on the neck and a tiny bit smaller and then a smaller one, who looked to be around my age.

“I’m doing fine, Sky, thank you for asking.” Lofty replied.

They were now directly in front of us and I couldn’t take my eyes off of the griffling.

“So who’s this little guy?” Sky asked Lofty.

“Dante, the Little One that I adopted.” she replied.

“Oh! So that’s the one you were talking so much about! He’s beautiful.”

“Pardon my mate’s manners, but I think we should introduce ourselves,” the male spoke up.

“Oh of course,” Sky laughed, shaking her head. “I’m Sky and this is my mate, Sparrow.” she introduced, looking at me. “And the griffling between us is our dear Trinity.”

Lofty turned to look at the griffling now, a warm smile on her face. “Trinity, such a beautiful name for such a beautiful griffling.”

Trinity backed up shyly, which made me take a step closer to her.

“I like your name, too.” I told her.

Her grey-blue eyes glanced up at me. “Thanks, I like yours.”

“So, is this Trinity’s first day out of the cave?” Lofty asked Sky, or Sparrow, I didn’t really know.

“Yes indeed. As you can see, she’s a little wary of everything. But she’ll open up soon, inside she’s a very playful and curious griffling.” Sky replied, looking down at Trinity.

“Well, I guess we should let you guys continue with the tour, there’s a lot of faces to meet.” Lofty said.

“Right, we should let you go too. But don’t be surprised if we just drop by some day, I think your little Dante likes our Trinity.” Sparrow said.

After saying quick goodbyes we both walked by each other and continued on our own separate ways.

“Will we be seeing them again?” I asked Lofty after I lost Trinity and her parents in the crowd.

“Oh, most definitely. But you just want to see Trinity again, don’t you?”

I nodded embarrassedly.

She chuckled softly. “Nothing to be ashamed of. It’s good to make friends.”

We continued to walk through the place and I started to grasp just how small it was. It could barely hold the small number of twenty four, which I assumed included the grifflings. I could even see the strong griffins building caves on the second level of the mountains.

I also learned that every griffin knew each other as if they were siblings, due to the small community. Even I knew at, my one month of age, that this situation was dire. How dare those dragons get the bigger territory and we get stuck to this tiny little Circle of Mountains.

Lofty introduced me to about every griffin we met, and I quickly forgot almost all of their names, even the ones of the other grifflings. Twenty three griffins might have been a small amount, but it’s huge when you can’t remember any of their names. The only name I remembered was Trinity’s.

Another thing I learned just from our little walk was how all the griffins looked alike. Almost every single one had golden blonde feathers, golden brown fur and amber eyes. The only difference was that juveniles had grey-black beaks and light brown feathers.

I asked Lofty why this was, and she told me golden beaks and golden feathers showed sexual maturity, meaning that they were able to find a mate and start a family. Lofty slowed as we approached the largest cave. Inside was the only different looking griffin.

His feathers were pitch black, and his fur was dark grey. His front legs and beak were a dark bronze. He was missing his right eye, which had a large claw mark cutting right though it, his left eye was yellow. He was much bigger than the other griffins and his gaze was intimidating.

As he began to approach us, I quickly dashed to hide under Lofty, peeking out through her front legs.

“So, this is the little orphan?” his voice boomed as his eye glared down at me.

I shrunk down so much, my belly was touching the ground. I recognized that voice, it was Blackbird, that griffin who told me that my parents were dead when I was a day old.

Lofty didn’t cower at all in his presence. “Yes, his name is Dante.”

Blackbird turned away from me and looked at Lofty. “Dante, huh?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The tone in his voice made it clear to me that he knew something about my name. And it seemed to be something bad. I shrunk even lower to the ground when his yellow eyes turned back on me.

“That’s a very interesting name, but I thought Lofty called you Little One.” he mused and leaned in. “Was that the name your fools of parents gave you?”

“Don’t you dare insult them!” I snapped, leaping at him and pulled out a feather from his face.

He snarled and quickly moved to retaliate, but Lofty stopped him with a smack of her claw. He growled at her but didn’t attack. “Tell the orphan to behave, nobody snaps at the leader.” he moved in closer to Lofty to where they were beak to beak. “Especially you.”

Lofty didn’t back down and locked eyes with him. “And you stay away from my baby.” she snarled.

Blackbird roared and smacked her in the face with his large talon. “Don’t ever defy me again, do you understand?!” he yelled.

Lofty had fallen back from the smack and staggered back up. Her ears were flat and her tail was tucked between her legs. “Yes, your majesty. I won’t do it again.” she apologized and quickly walked away. Forgetting me.

I was alone for a second and Blackbird started to glare at me again, which made me run to catch up. I had to run all the way as she hurried back into the cave, curling up in a shivering ball once inside.

The eaglets, who were sleeping, awoke and stared at her with worry. I was also worried, but I huddled up beside her. The evil black griffin had smacked her so hard that he slashed her face with his claws.

Without even a second thought, I pulled some fluff off my body and used it to wipe away the blood. When it continued to seep I took another clawful of fluff and held it there to try and stop the bleeding. I was now missing fluff from my entire belly area, and I could’ve cared less.

She opened up a crying eye to look at me and managed a smile. “Thank you, Dante.”

I smiled back at her. “You’re welcome. What is up with that griffin anyway?”

“I don’t know, but he is thirty years old, the oldest of the flock. That could be the cause of it, but he was still mean as a griffling.”

“I don’t like him.”

“Nobody does, my Little One.”

“Then why is he the leader?”

“Because he’s the biggest and the strongest. He’s the one he delivers all the threats to the dragons. He’s the only one brave enough to stand up to one. Of course, this got the both into a fight, but he won. That’s why he was only one eye, the dragon took the other from him.” she replied.

The bleeding had stopped and I threw away the bloody clump of fluff. Lofty stood up and smiled down at me. The hurt was gone from her eyes, replaced by love. She bent down to give me a little kiss on my head.

“Thank you again, my little Dante.”

“You’re welcome, again, Mother.”

She walked over to the nest and greeted the eaglets, nuzzling them all affectionately. They greeted her back with squeaks and chirps.

My eyes drifted over to the leftover food that the eaglets left, and my stomach began to growl. I walked over to the food and grabbed a piece of meat, trying to rip it off. This time, I held it with my front claws and pulled with all of my strength, something I hadn’t tried before.

It worked, and the piece came off. However, the force it came off with flung me halfway across the cave. I landed on my back with a squeak, but smiled when the meat was still in my mouth. I smiled, flipped myself over, and quickly chomped down the meat.

That was when Lofty’s laughter hit my ears and I looked at her.

“You could’ve just asked me to feed you if you were that hungry.” she said and moved away from the nest, grabbing the food and tearing a piece off. She walked up to me and dangled it above my head.

I leapt up and snatched it out of her beak, swallowing it down. “But that wouldn’t have been as much fun.” I replied, running to her so that I wouldn’t have to wait so long to get fed again.

She fed me until I was full and led me back to the nest. I huddled down in it, snuggling up with the hatchlings, suddenly feeling very sleepy. Lofty smiled lovingly and laid down in front of the nest to look at me in the eyes.

“You are a very special griffin, Dante, I can just feel it. Blackbird treated you badly because he was threatened by you, I’ve never seen him look at a griffling with such hateful eyes.” she whispered.

“But what if I don’t want to be special?”

“Why wouldn’t you? You saw how every griffin looks alike. They live simple lives and never ask questions, content with what they know. But you, my Little One, are full of questions, even ones you have yet to ask me. You are curious of everything and everyone.”

I smiled and slowly blinked, I was getting sleepier.

She chuckled softly and moved to sit on top of all of us. Without her in front of me, I could see that the other griffins outside began to go into their caves, as the area was covered in the orange glow of dawn.

I yawned and snuggled deep into her feathers, quickly falling asleep.

[Megaguirus]

In the morning, after the familiar clang echoed through the air and the male griffins took to the sky, Lofty got off the nest and went to the healer to get her scratches looked at.

“You can walk around and interact with the other grifflings, if you want.” she told me before leaving the cave completely.

That sounded like a good thing to do, so I followed after her, leaving the eaglets alone. But they didn’t seem to care much, so I didn’t feel bad about it. I stopped following Lofty once the sound of laughter hit my ears.

A group of five grifflings seemed to be throwing something around and having a good old time. A sixth griffling was on the side, just watching them. It only took me a second to realize this one was Trinity.

I bounded over to her and happily took a seat beside her. “Hello!” I chirped.

I seemed to have startled her and she flinched back, staring at me with cautious eyes. “H-hello.” she squeaked back.

I looked at her curiously. “You okay?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Yes, just a little scared.”

“Of me? Why?”

“I-I don’t know you. I don’t know anybody.” she replied, her ears flattening.

“I don’t know anybody either, but I’m not scared.” I told her with a brave smile. When she averted her eyes, my smile faded and I bent down to look her in the eyes. “Do you trust me?”

She glanced at me before cowering again.

I sighed and moved away from her, sitting a wing’s length away. I saw her slowly get back into sitting position, but she didn’t look at me, she just glanced at everybody else.

I cocked my head, she was awfully shy and nervous. But I was determined to get her out of her shell. I just didn’t know what to start with.

“Do you have any siblings?” I asked after a long moment of silence.

She shook her head.

I was about to ask another simple question when she asked me one out of nowhere.

“Do you?”

I smiled. “Kinda. I mean, I don’t have any griffin siblings, but I do have three eaglets for siblings. Lofty was caring for them before she adopted me.” I replied.

“Mother and Father did tell me that Lofty loved taking in baby birds.” she commented. “You-you’re the orphan, r-right?” she hesitated.

“Yes,” I replied and smiled.

“Did you see any dragons?”

I shook my head. But then, I thought about the black thing I saw fly by one night. “Maybe... Do you know what they look like?”

“No. But what do you mean by ‘maybe’?”

“I was awake one night and decided to leave my cave. Above me flew this huge black thing. I wonder if that was a dragon.”

Her eyes widened. “You were awake at night?!” she exclaimed. A little too loudly, though, because some of the playing grifflings paused to stare at us.

I suddenly got very embarrassed and ashamed and cowered.

“Did she say you were awake at night? Nobody should be awake at night.” a male griffling inquired.

“I know!” I defended. “It was just one night,” I lied, “I couldn’t sleep.”

“You could get in big trouble of Blackbird finds out.” the griffling told me.

“Why?”

“He says that griffins who are awake and out at night, they attract dragons to our sanctuary.” another griffling, who was growing in his flight feathers, explained.

“But what about the threat of war?”

He shook his head. “Blackbird says that doesn’t matter at night. Griffins are fair play then.”

I was scared now, ducking down as low as I could. “I promise I won’t do it again! Just please don’t tell Blackbird.” I apologized.

“Okay, we believe you.”

And with that, they were back to playing.

Trinity walked towards me as I got back up. “Sorry for yelling.” she apologized.

“That’s okay,” I replied. “I’m okay.”

She smiled. “I like you, Dante.”

I paused, a smile slowly crawling up on my face. “I like you too, Trinity.”

Suddenly hundreds of screeches broke through the sky and everybody looked up. The males were done from their hunting trip, carrying all sorts of tasty morsels. All the grifflings quickly ran back to their own caves.

“See you later?” Trinity asked as she was about to run.

I nodded. “See you later.” And we both ran to our caves.

Lofty was already in the cave, a bigger piece of meat on the ground, which the eaglets had already dug into. She smiled at me as I entered.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked her.

“From the area where we store excess meat. It’s running very low, though, this being the last piece. I’ll have to start hunting again tomorrow.” she replied.

I frowned. “Why must you hunt if only males do?”

“My mate passed away from unknown circumstances. Blackbird’s rules state that every cave must hunt for themselves. If a cave, or pair, loses the male, the female must hunt. Even if she has young.” she explained.

“Then why were you able to feed us for so long?”

“Charity. I had made a deal with Blackbird that we could have a storage cave until you were able to eat food without my help. So he made the males hunt extra in order to fill it up. Now that you can eat for yourself, Blackbird has stopped supplying it.”

“But that’s wrong!” I exclaimed with a stamp of my foot.

“I know, Dante, but we can’t do anything about it.” she stood and walked towards me, gently nuzzling me with her beak. “Don’t worry about me, Little One, I’m a strong griffin.”

I nuzzled her back letting out with tiny chirps. “Okay, I won’t worry.”

She smiled and pulled back. “Now, who’s ready for some breakfast?” she asked.

I let out with a chirp as I began to jump up and down. “Me! I am!”

I bounded after her and she began to feed me until I was full.

“This is the last I’ll feed you, Dante. It’s time for you to eat for yourself.” she told me once I was done.

“Really?” I asked her.

She laughed. “Yes, I told you that just a few minutes ago. You must’ve not heard.”

I laughed with her, suddenly remembering that she did mention it. I yawned, sleep soon overcoming me. I slowly crawled over to the nest and joined the eaglets for my midday nap.

I didn’t sleep for too long, though. When I woke I saw Lofty was just laying in the cave, away from the nest. I guessed it was because the eaglets and I could definitely make our own heat.

I got out of the nest and walked over to her. I looked at her with concerned eyes. “You okay?” I asked.

She looked up at me, managing a small smile. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.” I said and laid down to look at her. “Don’t want to go back to hunting?”

She sighed. “I guess. But I just miss my mate more.”

“What happened to him?”

“Nobody seems to know. When I didn’t see my mate come back from hunting, I asked Blackbird about it and he just told me that Glare died during a hunting accident. I wanted to know more, but he never gave me more.”

“Can’t you just find another mate?”

She sighed loudly and shook her head. “It’s not that easy. Griffins mate for life. But even if we didn’t there isn’t a free male around. Blackbird isn’t allowed to breed, and everybody else has either found a pair, or are still young. Besides, who would want an infertile female like me. I can’t contribute to the flock.”

I crawled closer to her and gently nuzzled her. “I’m sorry. But you aren’t unwanted, I want you.”

She smiled and I could see her hold back tears. “Oh, Little One, I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

I turned my head to look out at all the griffins moving around. They were all so happy and content. I understood why Blackbird was so strict, he wants to give us a sanctuary away from those monstrous dragons.

He didn’t have to be so mean about it, but I guessed he was conditioned to be that way. After all, he did kill a dragon. The more I thought about Blackbird, the more questions popped up in my head. I decided it would be best to ask Lofty.

“Is Blackbird the only elder?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Because of this we rarely call him that, and instead just call him our leader.”

“How old is he?”

“Thirty one years old. Which, compared to the average griffin lifespan of twenty, makes him much older. That’s why he appointed himself as leader.”

“You didn’t have a leader before then?”

“We did, but after he was slaughtered by dragons during the last war, Blackbird was the runner up. The dragon he killed was actually the one who killed our old leader. We just accepted his position, understanding that it really was the best choice for our survival.”

“Were you alive during the war?”

“No, but my parents were, and they told me all the stories.”

All of this was wonderful info for my hungry griffling mind, but I craved even more. I decided to ask the biggest question, the one I had in my head the longest.

“What do dragons look like?”

She looked at me, and I was expecting a scolding, but she just replied calmly. “I’ve never seen one, but I do remember the description my father gave me, since he fought one in the war. They are huge monsters, covered in thick shiny scales. They have many rows of ferocious teeth, glowing red eyes and fire breath. They have enormous wings that can take them higher than any griffin dared, and their four feet are huge talons with claws big enough to tear a griffin to shreds.”

Her description was different than the one I formed in my head, but it was somehow scarier. If that thing I saw fly over the Circle of Mountains really was a dragon, I was thankful it didn’t see me. But there was still this tiny curious part of me that wanted to see it for myself.

“Do all dragons look like that?” I asked.

“My father told me their sizes and colors changed, but they were overall exactly the same.” she replied.

I sighed, tired from asking questions, and forgetting most of the ones I haven’t asked. I looked back outside the cave and saw the same group of grifflings playing together. I turned to Lofty.

“Can I go and play?”

She smiled. “Sure, if you want. The gong will sound when it’s time to come back home.”

I got up and sprang outside, but paused when I remember her sadness. “Will you be okay?”

Her smile grew and she got to her feet. “Yes, I’ll be fine, Dante. I might go ahead and get some socialization in too.”

“Okay!” I said and bounded away.

When I got to the group, I noticed Trinity sitting back once again. I walked over to her cautiously, making my presence known before sitting beside her.

“Hello!” I greeted with a chirp.

She smiled faintly at me. “Hello,” she whispered back.

“Why aren’t you playing with the others?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I think I want to, but I’m not sure if they can be trusted. I also don’t understand a single bit about this game.”

I turned to watch them play, it did look rather confusing. “Can’t all griffins be trusted?”

“I guess, that’s what my parents say. But what if they’re dragons in disguise? Or what if they’re just as mean as Blackbird?”

“I don’t think Blackbird would allow any dragons in here, even if they were disguised as griffins. And you won’t know if they’re as mean as Blackbird until you go up to them and see.”

She looked at me. “Okay, how about you go and talk to them? If they’re nice to you, maybe I’ll join.”

I hesitated, but after she glared at me, I sprang to my feet and looked back at her. “Okay, I’ll go do just that.” I said and walked off.

They stopped playing the moment they saw me. They stared at me with curious eyes. I tried to hide my nervousness as I opened my beak to speak.

“Hello, can I join your game?”

“Do you know how to play?” the oldest one there, asked. He was already growing in his adult feathers and had the amber eyes of the adults.

“No.” I replied.

He sighed and explained the game to me. It was even more confusing to hear the rules than it was to even watch.

“Can you tell me again?” he sighed and rolled his eyes. He began to explain it again.

I thought I got it and nodded my head. “Okay, I’m ready to play.”

“Good,” he said with a slight smile.

We got into our places and the game began. The thing we were playing with was a skull from a meal. The goal of the game was a sort of hunting game. One griffling would throw the skull up in the air and the other had to jump and catch it, or just stand where they thought it was going to fall.

The tricky part was all the rules and scoring. Jumping higher got more points, and missing it lost points. Accidentally running into another griffling was an instant disqualification.

Everybody went before me and did amazingly, I was sure I would fail and was shaking by the time I came up to the plate. I glanced behind me and saw Trinity watching intently. I didn’t want to fail this with her watching.

The griffling threw the skull and I leapt for it after gaining some speed by running. The moment I was in the air, my fear was gone. I focused on the skull and extended my talons out to grab it. I didn’t know I was letting out with a long screech until they told me later. I grabbed the skull and prepared to land. I was sure I was going to trip, but I landed perfectly on my three feet, the fourth one grasping the skull.

When I turned back around I noticed I was feet from where I started. All of the grifflings stared at me with open beaks, even some of the griffins were staring at me. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or amazement in their eyes, but I knew I didn’t like being stared at.

I walked back over to them and set the skull down. “How many points is that?” I asked, trying to shake them from their shock.

“T-too many to count. What the heck even was that?” the oldest griffling spoke.

I was completely unaware. “What?”

“You leapt impossibly high and screamed so loud I think even dragons heard. You grabbed that skull with such force and strength.” a younger griffling said, walking over to the skull and picking it up. She gasped when she saw cracks and showed it to me before everyone else. “Look! He even cracked it!” she exclaimed.

“Is that odd?” I asked stupidly.

“Not for a juvenile or adult, but for someone who hasn’t even grown in their feathers? Yes.” the oldest replied.

They were still staring and I began to get very uncomfortable. Abnormality obviously wasn’t a very praised thing in this community. I tucked my tail between my legs and walked away, convinced I was a freak.

I passed right by Trinity, who actually decided to follow me.

“Hey!” she called as she caught up. “They aren’t scared of you, they’re just a little shocked. Nobody has seen someone attack the skull like that before. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You weren’t the one being stared at.” I mumbled.

She jumped in front of me, making me stop and look up. She had determination in her eyes, when before I only saw fear. “They’ll get over it soon anyway.” she told me. “By tomorrow, they’ll act like nothing ever happened. Who knows, they might invite you to play another game. One where they take teams and they would want someone like you!”

Her encouraging words forced a smile on my face. “Okay, I’ll see what they are like tomorrow.” I replied.

She smiled and gave me a gentle little peck on the beak. “That’s the spirit.”

Suddenly, the sounds of a gong rang through the air. I looked up at the sky and tiny bits of orange could be seen spilling out. The description of the game must’ve taken longer than I thought. Trinity and I looked at each other.

“See you tomorrow?” she asked me as she got ready to walk away.

I smiled and nodded. “You can count on it.” And with that, we both parted ways and headed to our caves.

Lofty was waiting for me and greeted me with a warm smile. “Did you have fun?” she asked.

She obviously didn’t know what happened, and for the better, I didn’t want to scare her. I simply nodded as I made my way over to the nest, joining the fat eaglets in a pile of fluff.

“Good,” she said and laid beside the nest.

I quickly fell asleep after letting out with a large yawn.

I'm trying to keep the chapters short for this forum, but I'm not sure how long that'll last. Also, not sure when the next chapter will go up. I'm starting to get deeper into the story, and there's a lot I need to change that I haven't yet worked out. I'll try and get it up soon, but I can't give an exact date.

Also, expect to soon see the front post updated with pictures of clay figures of most of the characters as they pop up. Only two griffins, though, Dante and Trinity, Lofty just looks like every other griffin anyway. XD And I don't like Blackbird enough to make a sculpture of him, especially since he's not going to last much longer.

Fun fact about that griffin, he didn't use to be so mean. But in one of his last scenes in the original draft, he was very mean, and I guess that was the only memorable trait about him XD. He might not be the only one getting a slight personality change, either.

[Megaguirus]

I was awake before the morning gong even rang. The first light of dawn was barely visible and I sat outside my cave to watch the sunrise, alone. I was awake last night again, as I have always been ever since I hatched, and had gotten used to it.

I was yet to tell anybody about it, knowing that it was probably very unusual for griffins. And after the shock from yesterday’s game, I was scared from telling anybody forever.

The curiosity about what lie beyond my home also continued to buzz in the back of my mind. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, it would always creep up again. The curiosity was at its greatest at night, and I had to grasp onto the nest to keep myself from wandering out. I wasn’t going to lead a dragon to our home.

I turned back to look at the nest. The eaglets seemed to stop growing, though they were still incredibly fat. But I was too, so I knew it was because of our ages. Lofty’s scar was starting to heal, but still looked horrible. Looking at it made my blood boil, I wanted to make Blackbird pay for hurting her.

I grit my beak and held back a snarl. Even if it cost me my home here, I planned to stand up to that evil griffin one day. Nobody gets away with hurting my family. I turned back to face the outside and shook the angry thoughts out of my head. I didn’t like them, they felt out of place.

Suddenly the loud clang of the gong echoed through the air, shaking me out of my thoughts. I looked to see Lofty wake up and slowly get to her feet. She blinked in surprise when she saw me up and out of the nest.

“Dante, what are you doing up?” she asked me as she walked closer.

I shrugged. “I woke at before sunrise and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

She smiled and gave me a kiss on the head. “I love you.” she whispered and walked out of the cave.

I stood and almost followed her out, but stopped when she took to the air. “I love you too!” I called back as she joined the rest and quickly flew away.

Once they were all out of sight, a sigh exited my beak. I was about to lay down and simply wait for her when I heard a hissing chirp come from behind me. I turned to see one of the eaglets was waddling out of the nest towards me.

The young bird took place right beside me and stared deeply in my eyes. It was smiling at me just like a griffin would. Its beak didn’t move, but its eyes glowed with joy and affection and the feathers around its face were all fluffed up.

I bent down to give it a little kiss but we ended up just rubbing our faces together. Once we were done with that, the eaglet simply sat beside me. This eaglet was one of the more interactive ones, I was beginning to notice. It was the only one to ignore its fellow species and play with me.

I knew Lofty didn’t name the eaglets, but as we were sitting beside each other, a name popped up in my head. I glanced over at the little creature.

“Are you worried that Lofty won’t come home too, Glory?” I asked it.

It twitched when it heard its name, but it looked up at me with its gentle eyes and nodded.

“Well, don’t worry too much, she’s a strong griffin, she’ll come back with a huge meal for us.” I assured it, even though I was mostly assuring myself.

Glory smiled and looked away from me to continue to stare at the other griffins. I did the same and wondered what the other grifflings were up to. Probably playing their games and having a good time. I wanted to join them, but I didn’t know how Glory would feel about it.

I stood and looked at Glory. “Want to come and play with the grifflings?” I asked it.

It shook its head and glanced up at the sky.

I knew exactly what it was saying. “Okay, you can wait for her.” I said with a smile, walking away.

I was heading towards the usual play area, and wasn’t surprised to see that the grifflings were already gathered there. I could see that there were two new ones, who appeared to be siblings, because they were huddled close to each other. Their mother watched them closely to see how they’d act with the others.

My eyes went right for Trinity, who was sitting alone once again. I walked towards her and took place beside her.

“Hello,” I greeted.

She jumped a little, I guess I surprised her, but once she saw it was me, she smiled softly. “Hello.” she replied.

This time I stayed silent, to see if she would speak up. And eventually, after a few minutes of watching the grifflings play, she did.

“Why doesn’t your belly have fluff?” she asked.

I looked down, noticing that it hadn’t grown back yet. “Blackbird hit Lofty, so I used some of my fluff to stop the bleeding.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, that’s horrible!”

“Yeah, I know, but she’s okay now.”

“I’m so sorry that she got hurt, I didn’t know Blackbird was that mean.”

“Thanks, I just hope she’s okay hunting.”

“My parents told me that she’d be fine, she’s a very strong griffin.”

I smiled. “That’s what everybody tells me.”

“You don’t believe that?”

“Oh no, I most certainly do, but I think she should stop being so strong. She’s a very gentle griffin. I just wish I could grow fast enough so that I could do all the hunting.”

“Well, you are big enough to be a juvenile. It just seems like your feathers haven’t caught up with you.”

I smirked. I guess I was bigger than the other grifflings if I compared myself. “It sure seems that way.”

Our conversation was immediately interrupted when the oldest of the grifflings called to me.

“Hey! Glad to see you again.” he said as he bounded over. “I was hoping we didn’t scare you yesterday.”

I smiled back at him. Even though he was almost a juvenile, I was just about as big as him. “So you don’t hate me?”

He shook his head. “Oh no, not at all. I’m Kage, by the way, what’s your name?”

“Dante,” I replied.

“That’s an interesting name. Anyway, Dante, I was wondering if you would like to join us in our next game.”

I looked at Trinity and she nodded, telling me that it was okay with her. I looked back at Kage. “Okay, why not?”

He smiled. “Great!” he exclaimed and walked back to the group.

I stood and slowly followed after him, stopping to look at Trinity. She was smiling gently. “Talk to you later?” I asked.

She nodded. “Talk to you later.”

I ran to meet up with the others. Once I was in the group, Kage quickly explained the game. It was a team-based game where one griffling from each team would fight each other, playfully, of course. The griffling who won would stay in the circle and fight another. The team with the most grifflings left standing would win.

I was simple enough, and I seemed to get it quicker than the last game. After Kage gave the instructions, we were all split up into two teams of four. Kage was the leader for one team, and another griffling was the leader for the other team. They then were able to choose whoever they wanted on their teams.

I was chosen for Kage’s team. Then the other team picked the second strongest griffling, then Kage got to choose again and this cycle repeated until we were all in our own teams. The two new grifflings weren’t allowed to play and Trinity also sat it out and another weak looking griffling also sat it out.

The ring was simply drawn in the ground with each team standing on opposite sides. I was chosen to go first and reluctantly stepped in the ring. I was matched with the other team’s leader, who looked to be about the same age as Kage.

“Go easy on him, brother!” I heard Kage call out behind me.

The griffling smiled and glared at me. “I can’t make any promises.”

He then leapt at me and since I wasn’t allowed to run, I was forced to fight him back. I tried to remember that I was slightly bigger than him, even though I was much younger. Although I did leap back at him, he threw me to the ground.

Thankfully he jumped off me and waited for me to get up. He, as well as the others, seemed to be enjoying it. I staggered and stared at him in terror, I wasn’t ready for this. He leapt at me again, and that was when something in me clicked.

I leapt back and we collided in the air, grasping talons. Even though he actually had working wings, I was able to throw him down. I hissed at him before leaping off and waiting for him to get up.

Once he was up I didn’t even hesitate and charged at him. I headbutted him right out of the ring and almost into another teammate. I was grinning victoriously and I heard the grifflings from my side cheering. I went back to my starting spot and watched as another griffling stepped up to the plate.

I snarled at her and flicked my tail, crouching down in a pouncing position. I let out with a screech and leapt at her before she was even able to think. She dodged, however, and I smacked into the hard ground with a squeak as I felt the wind knock out of my lungs.

I wanted to stay laying down, but something inside me forced my tired body up and I turned to face my opponent. I let out with an ear-splitting screech and charged at him even before I caught my breath.

I headbutted her out of the ring and cheers rang in my ears. I caught my breath and walked back to my spot, sitting down from fatigue.

“What are you doing? Fight your next opponent.” Kage encouraged me.

“I can’t,” I panted, “not like this.” I saw as another griffling entered the ring. He looked especially angry.

“That was my sister you just knocked out of the ring. Nobody treats my sister like that.” he growled.

I sighed and got back to my feet. I’d just have to lose this time. “And what are you going to do about it?” I taunted.

He screeched and charged at me, ready to headbutt me out of the ring. But I had other plans. I jumped to the side right before he hit me and pushed him over before he could stop. He almost tumbled right out of the ring, but got back up just in time.

He glared at me and leapt at me. I waited until he was almost above me and leapt for his belly, tackling him and throwing him to the ground. He let out with a squeak as the air left his lungs and I sprang right off of him.

I anxiously awaited for his retaliation and got into a fighting stance when he stood. But instead he just staggered out of the ring. Everybody from my team cheered again and while I did want to smile, I felt sorry for harming all of these griffins.

The last one entered the ring. She was my age and glared at me. That’s when she charged, and I charged back at her. I was expecting her to continue, but instead she stopped before I could think. Not wanting to smack into her, I leapt up at the last second. I soared over the opposite team and landed a foot or two behind them.

My body skidded along the ground and I winced from the pain. I stopped when I ran into the foot of another griffin. I looked up to see none other than Blackbird standing right above me. It looked like they all just returned, because the males were carrying one or two items of food.

He glared down at me with his ferocious eyes. “You better run back to Lofty before I carry you there myself.” he threatened.

His glared was enough to make me spring right to my feet and run to my cave, tail tucked between my legs. Once I was out of his sight, though, I calmed down a little. I returned to the cave to see that the eaglets were already feasting on the large animal carcass.

I picked up my pace when I saw Lofty and nuzzled her affectionately before immediately going to eat. I was starving too, and knew that the food wouldn’t last much longer with the three hungry eaglets going at it.

Once I ate my fill I walked away from it to sit with Lofty. The eaglets were still going at it, which surprised me. They usually weren’t this hungry.

“Why are they so hungry?” I asked her.

“Because they’re growing in their feathers and will be learning to fly soon. Haven’t you noticed the quills?”

I cocked my head, is that what those stick-like things were? “I guess, I didn’t know that’s what they were though.” I replied, pausing shortly afterwards. “Does that mean they’ll be gone soon?”

She slowly nodded her head. “Sadly, yes. They might stay with us for a little longer after learning how to fly, but once they know how they’ll be addicted to the taste of freedom. I wouldn’t want to stay here if I didn’t have to.”

The mention of freedom made me sigh. I sure didn’t feel free. “Why does Blackbird force you to only hunt at a certain period of day?”

“Because the morning is the period where there’s the least likeliest chance of getting killed by a dragon.”

“But aren’t dragons only out during the night?”

“So we think, but it is safe not to risk it.”

“But that’s so limiting! I don’t want to live out the rest of my life in this boring place. I want to see what’s beyond the Circle of Mountains.” I complained.

Lofty sighed. “It’s not that bad, Dante, you’re just eager to get out there. Soon, you’ll be the one hunting and bringing home our food. Once you are, you’ll get to see beyond what you know.”

“But I want to live there!”

She shook her head and looked me in the eyes. She had a very serious look on her face. “No, you don’t. It’s full of dangers, some that I have almost died by. My mate was taken by one of those dangers. Your parents dared to live out of our community and were also taken by the greatest danger. It’s a scary place, no place for a griffin. This community, this Circle of Mountains, it’s all we know and is our sanctuary.”

I backed up, my ears flattening. She’d never yelled at me before, so this was very unsettling for me. I stood and walked out of the cave. “I-I’m going to play with the others. See you later.” I quickly spat out and dashed away from her before she could say anything.

I felt like what she said was true, but I didn’t want it to be. I was torn between two feelings, and I didn’t like it. One part of me knew she was true and wanted to stay content with my boring life, but another part told me it was a scare tactic, something to keep us controlled and contained.

Were dragons really the monsters they were made out to be? What if they were just like griffins in the way they acted and thought. What if they were just as scared of us as we were of them? These questions scared me, because I didn’t want to know the answer, for fear they wouldn’t be what I expected.

I stopped thinking once I made it to the play area. Everybody was already back at play, and they seemed to be playing a game even the two youngest grifflings were allowed to join. I made a bee-line towards Trinity the moment I saw her.

I happily plopped down beside her with a silly grin on my face. “Hi!” I chirped.

She smiled back at me. “Hello. You were awesome at the fighting game, by the way.”

“Thanks. I tried.”

She laughed. “You didn’t just try, you won. You also seemed to have made a few friends.”

Right after she said that, I saw Kage approach me, he was also smiling.

“Dante! You did amazing at the game earlier! You were the very first one to beat my brother. I think you crushed his pride a little there.” he congratulated.

“Thanks. I tried my best.” I simply replied, not sure of what else to say.

“You know, you look like you’ll be an amazing hunter once you’re old enough. Your skills are unmatched for a one month old.”

“Well, Lofty does say I’m special.”

“She’s right, you are very special. Now, want to join us in another game?” he offered.

I glanced at the other grifflings before glancing at Trinity. I looked back at Kage and shook my head. “No, thank you, I just want to watch this time.”

He nodded understandably. “Okay, I won’t force you. You are welcome to jump in any time if you change your mind.” he then ran back to the others before I could even thank him.

“See what I mean? Friends.” Trinity said.

I took place beside her. “Yeah, I see.” She was right, I had made some friends.

We both sat in silence for awhile, just enjoying each others company until I thought of a question to ask her.

“Do you ever have urges to leave the Circle of Mountains and explore the lands beyond it?”

She looked at me curiously. “Why would I? This place is all I’ve known. Besides, there are dragons and other dangers beyond our home. It’s not a place for griffins.” she replied.

I quietly sighed so that she wouldn’t hear it. That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. I had to ask other griffins to see if my feeling really was odd. “I see, thanks for the answer.”

“Have you had those urges?” she asked me.

I paused, wondering if I should lie. I was already yelled at for being awake at night, I was scared if I’d get the same reaction. “A little, but it’s easily ignorable.” I fibbed.

She laughed, obviously trying to calm my nerves, since my fear was probably very visible. “That’s perfectly normal for a male griffin. I’ve heard some of the male grifflings speak about it. You’re just eager to provide for your family, nothing wrong there.”

It’s more than that. I thought in reply. Instead I let out with a sigh of relief. “That’s a relief.”

“Speak with one of the males if it’s really on your mind. I doubt they’d reject it.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” There went my plan to ask other griffins. They’d just give me the same answers.

Silence fell between us once more and we just watched the others play until it was sunset and time to go to bed. I wasn’t as eager to this time, though. I was scared of what Lofty would say. Would she yell at me for running away? But I couldn’t avoid it, so I had to face her.

Trinity and I said our goodbyes for the day and we parted ways. When I reached my cave, I could see the eaglets were already asleep and Lofty was waiting for me at the entrance. I couldn’t read her expression, which worried me.

I looked at her cautiously. “Are you still mad at me?”

She sighed and nuzzled me, which chased away my fears. “No, dear, I wasn’t mad at you before you left. Sorry if it seemed like I yelled, I wasn’t meaning for it to sound like that.”

I smiled. “Thanks, I just wasn’t sure.”

“So what if your urge is a little stronger than normal, it’s just another part of what makes you so special.” she told me as we walked to the nest.

I wiggled myself in with the eaglets, which was starting to become a little trickier.

Lofty laid down beside the nest and looked at me with love. She gave me a little kiss on the beak. “Goodnight, Dante, love you.”

I kissed her back and snuggled in deeper. “Love you too, Mother.” I closed my eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep. Excited and scared for the days to come.

Another fun fact for you, Kage is an entirely new character. He might have been in the original, but he most definitely wasn't mentioned or even interacted with.

I promise the plot will get started soon, even I'm getting a little bored. But these baby chapters are perfect opportunities to get the characters developed, even though some haven't even been introduced yet. I rushed Dante's relationship with Trinity last time, I don't want to make the same mistake again.

Also, if it isn't clear already, typos happen a lot in my stories. I write so fast that sometimes even entire words get skipped over!

[Megaguirus]

Weeks passed and life continued normally. The eaglets had almost all of their beautiful brown feathers in. Lofty came back in perfect condition after every hunt, and I eventually calmed my fears that something would happen to her.

I had great friends, too. Some of the grifflings were still wary of me, but the few who weren’t were great. That included Kage, his brother, Dimidas, a one month old male griffling named Erion who was one of the “new” grifflings and, of course, Trinity.

There were more changes happening, too. Kage and Dimidas, as well as three other older grifflings, were learning how to fly and were going to be hunting in no time. I was also growing bigger, which surprised me. I was the biggest griffling for my age, and most weren’t too accepting of that.

But even still, I stayed positive and continued to play games and socialize. Trinity wasn’t doing too good on the socialization, though. She was perfectly friendly with me, but still wouldn’t join any games and when I introduced her to my friends she just hid her face.

I was also still awake at night, it seemed to be longer periods of time too. I didn’t take midday naps anymore, even though I sometimes wanted it, hoping that would fix it. And it sort of did, making my periods shorter.

During these times I’d just think. I still had so many questions, ones that I knew Lofty couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer. I was so curious about things, that I ventured out of the cave at night for the first time in awhile. I somehow wasn’t scared that I’d see a dragon fly over. Besides, even if I did, I doubt it would attack.

I pulled myself out of the nest, catching myself so that I wouldn’t fall. I silently crept out of the cave and stared up at the beautiful night sky. It was still prettier than the sky during the day, and I somehow missed it.

I began to stargaze, just taking in all of its majesty. I wished the other griffins could see this, especially Trinity. Curiosity taking over me once more, I began to count the stars. There was more than I could count and I soon got lost.

When that game ended, I began to try and make images out of them. Some were very clear, like the bird and its prey. But others took awhile to see, like the griffin. One, though, looked very fascinating. It looked like a griffin, but also very similar to the description Lofty gave me of dragons.

“Who are you?” I whispered. I knew it wouldn’t answer, I just had to ask some sort of question.

I yawned, finally sleepy once again. I bid the night a goodnight and headed back to my nest, wiggling in between the fat eaglets. Quickly closing my eyes and falling into a dreamless sleep.


The next morning I was awakened by the gong and watched Lofty leave the cave once again. I couldn’t grow up fast enough. Hunting was my duty. But I didn’t dwell on it. I had griffins to interact with.

I glanced back at the eaglets, who were pouncing on their own shadows. Their feathers were growing in beautifully. I stared at my little stubs of wings, wondering when I’d have my feathers. That too, couldn’t come soon enough. I had so many things planned once I learned how to fly.

I would touch the moon, explore the world, take Lofty’s burden and finally see dragons. It was so exciting for me. I was ready to walk out of the cave when I heard a little screech behind me.

I turned to see Glory look at me longingly. I still had no idea what gender it was, but I decided to just call him a male. He had his head cocked and was staring at me with curiosity.

“Do you want to come with me?” I asked him.

He replied with a screech and another step forward.

I didn’t see any harm in it. “Okay, follow me then.”

He was following me closely, and I could see the other griffins look at me curiously.

“He really is Lofty’s griffling, isn’t he?” a female asked another.

“Oh yes, that is undeniable.” the other replied.

“He might be Lofty’s griffling, but I see his parents in him.” a third chimed in.

They other two nodded. “Sylvana and Tyre were excellent griffins. Especially Tyre, he was a true leader.” the first female who spoke agreed.

The other two shushed her.

“What? Blackbird isn’t here. Besides, it’s a truth that everybody knows.”

The griffins walked out of earshot and I froze in my path. I knew their names. I never thought to ask their names, and Lofty never offered them. Then again, Lofty wasn’t one for names anyway.

A screech from Glory broke me out of my thoughts. I looked down at him with a smile. “Yes, I know, we need to get to the others. I just got excited.” I told him and continued walking.

He followed after me eagerly in his waddling gait and we soon made it to the play area of the grifflings. Kage and Dimidas were learning how to fly, along with two other grifflings. Erion’s sisters.

I walked right over to Trinity, who was still shyly sitting away from the others. She smiled when she saw me and her eyes instantly moved to Glory.

“Is that an eaglet?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yes, one of my siblings, Glory.”

She studied him curiously. I forgot that she hadn’t seen them before. I still thought our lives were too sheltered to be good.

She wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen eaglets. Erion spotted me and came bounding over, his little wings spread out as if it would help him run faster. He stared at Glory with fascination.

Glory stared back with curiosity. I forgot that he hadn’t seen many griffins.

“What’s his name?” Erion asked.

“Glory. That’s what I call him, at least. Lofty never gave him a name.” I replied.

“Wow,” he whispered and continued to study him.

“So that’s one of the eaglets you’ve been talking about.” Kage’s voice came from above.

I looked up and watched him land delicately on the ground in front of us. His brother came tumbling down after. Kage was definitely better at this flying.

Kage, ever so proud, strutted after his landing, sticking out his chest triumphantly. His tail flicking ever so slightly. He looked down at Glory, who simply looked back up at him with fascination.

After another minute of staring at the eaglet, he looked back up at me. “You know, I am very jealous of your living situation. It must be amazing to live with another species.”

“It’s different, that’s for sure. And thanks.”

Glory stood as tall as he could to almost be eye-to-eye and gave Kage a tiny peck on the beak. He backed up and flapped his wings, letting out with a screech. Kage just stared at him with confusion.

I chuckled, knowing exactly what my eaglet sibling was asking. “He wants you to take him flying.” I translated.

“Really?” Kage asked with a cock of his head.

I nodded. “Lofty’s been doing it for a few days now. From what she’s told me, eagles normally make their nests high up in trees and the eaglets usually learn how to fly by using wind currents catching under their wings. Since that isn’t possible here, she becomes their tree by flying high enough for wind currents to catch them.” I explained, repeating just about every word she said. Even though most of the words were foreign to me.

He smiled and stared down at the eaglet. “I see,” he said and crouched down. “Okay then, little guy, hop on.”

Glory eagerly jumped on and Kage awkwardly took to the air. He still needed to understand taking off. But once he was in the air, he was an expert flyer. Tomorrow, he might even start learning how to hunt, his father being the teacher.

That’s how it went with griffins. Of course, Lofty would have to be my teacher, since I had no father. Not that I cared, because I knew she’d be the perfect teacher.

Kage ascended up to the very tops of the mountains, where the wind was the strongest. Even though he was unimaginably high, I, as well as the other grifflings, could see him perfectly. Griffins were known for their sight, Lofty told me once.

Glory spread his wings and whenever a gust of wind swept under them, he tucked in his legs and let it lift him up. He continued this for awhile, until the screeches of the returning griffins hit the air.

Glory was so startled by this that he lost his footing and slipped off of Kage’s back. I screeched desperately and ran to where I predicted he would land. Kage noticed and dived down to catch the falling eaglet.

However, to our surprise, Glory’s large wings caught some air and he stopped falling. He flapped them and rose higher in the sky. My jaw dropped, he was flying. Kage also looked to be in shock, just hovering there with his beak hanging open.

Lofty flew in and landed beside me, two large carcasses in his claws. “Is that one of my eaglets?” she asked me.

“Yes,” I said, grinning happily. “Glory is flying.”

Since Glory was staying in the air, Kage decided to land too. He turned to look at Lofty. “Have you seen eaglets do that before?” he asked her.

She shook her head, still staring at the majestic bird. “Never, and this is the third clutch I’ve raised.”

Glory looked tired of flying and dived down towards me. I noticed his talons were outstretched and I nervously backed away. I should’ve ran though, because he tackled me playfully.

He then began wrestling with me, gently pulling at my fluff and letting out with playful chirps. I knew the only way for this to end was for me to give up, so I stopped fighting him and laid still.

He stared at me with his dark eyes for a moment before hopping off and running over to Lofty to begin eating.

Kage was smiling at me. “Well, as much as I’d like to continue watching you play with your eagle, I have some food to get to. See you in a bit, Dante.” he said and walked off.

“See you!” I called back before following Lofty back to the cave.

The other two eaglets screeched excitedly at their food and Lofty tossed it to them, with Glory running after it. I got the other creature all to myself.

“Don’t you need to eat?” I asked Lofty.

“I ate while I hunted, so I’m full.” she replied.

I accepted her answer and continued to eat.

“I’m so amazed that eaglet flew. Was Kage helping it?”

I nodded. “He was doing what I said you did.”

She chuckled. “Indeed he was. But I never went that high. I might start doing that, though, I wonder if that’s why it was different.”

“What if it was all Glory’s doing? What if he’s special?”

She smiled warmly, staring at the three eaglets. “You might very well be right, it could just be Glory. But we need to try it with the others until we’re sure.”

We fell silent while I finished eating. The eaglets were done eating first, and began to ask Lofty for flight training. She complied and took the first one into the air. The other two and I just watched as she ascended. This time, she went as high as Kage and after the eaglet got its bearings, she moved away from it so that it wouldn’t have her to land on.

It began to fall and she watched it closely. It tried to right itself midair, like what Glory did, but failed. Lofty swooped in and caught it before it hit the ground. She let it hop off her back and waddle away dizzily.

She looked at the other eaglet, who seemed nervous now. “Come on,” she encouraged it, turning her body for it to climb up. It hesitated, but Glory pushed it forward, giving it encouragement in eagle language.

It complied and nervously climbed up on her back. She took it into the air, just as high as before, but this time, she didn’t drop it. She just let it catch on the wind currents as she hovered there.

Soon, she began to slowly circle the mountains while it gripped tightly onto her back. It spread out its wings as Lofty flew faster and faster. Once she picked up enough speed, she dove and the eaglet let go falling behind her.

However, because its wings were already spread, it slowly parachuted to the ground. Glory screeched at it and it flapped its wings, which took it higher. It flapped again, and rose even higher. It was smiling as it figured out flight.

It straightened itself out and tried to turn in the air, but it wasn’t ready for that trick and lost its courage. It struggled for a bit and Lofty was ready to catch it, but the eaglet was able to land on its own, even though it was a very clumsy landing.

Lofty nuzzled it to show her approval. Once done with that, the eaglet waddled back inside the cave. It then started a wrestling match with its siblings without a second thought. I simply stood by and watched as Lofty approached.

“That was amazing.” I complemented her.

“Thank you, but it was mostly the eaglet who figured it out. I’ll try that with the last one tomorrow.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

We sat there for a bit, just enjoying each other’s company until Lofty spoke up again.

“How about you go back to playing with the others until sundown?” she offered.

I nodded without a second thought and trotted back to my friends.


The next morning I happily ran over to my friends. I was surprised to not see Kage there.

“Where’s Kage?” I asked Trinity, since Dimidas was still trying to understand how to land and take off.

“I think he was skilled enough at flying that Blackbird decided to let him learn how to hunt.” she replied.

I watched Dimidas, who didn’t seem very happy. “I’m guessing his brother isn’t taking it too well?”

She nodded. “Looks like it. I feel sorry for him, I wish I could help him. But I don’t even have my flight feathers yet.”

“I wish I could help him too,” I agreed.

We continued to watch Dimidas struggle until he got so tired that he couldn’t even lift his wings anymore. He just sat there, panting heavily, his wings laying limp at his sides.

I felt like I should talk to him, so that was exactly what I did. I slowly crept towards him until I was standing right beside him.

“Are you alright?” I asked carefully.

“Do I look alright to you? My younger brother is out there being taught how to hunt and here I am, still stuck in this prison.” he snarled.

I blinked when he called this place a prison. I had no idea what that word meant, but somehow, I understood how he felt. “I understand that. I wish I could fly out of here too, but at least you have your flight feathers.”

He looked up at me. “You understand?” he asked slowly.

I nodded.

He grinned and stood up, pulling his wings close. “We might not be allowed to get out of this place, but have you ever wanted to stand on top of that pillar in the center and look out at the world?” he asked me.

I wasn’t sure what he was getting to, but I nodded.

“Then jump on, I’ll take you up there.” he said.

I paused. “But wouldn’t I weigh you down? I’m not small like the others.”

“That doesn’t matter. Kage might know how to land and take off, but I am still stronger than him. I can carry you.”

“Okay,” I said, unsure if he could really do it. Still, I climbed up on his back and told him that he could lift off now.

He crouched down before leaping up perfectly straight. He spread his wings and began to flap them. Before I knew it, he was actually gaining in height. He found it hard to stay flying up completely vertical, so he began to wind his way up the pillar, circling it many times.

The higher he got, the tighter I gripped onto his feathers. I noticed just how scary heights actually were. But I didn’t want to close my eyes. I just stared up at the sky, watching as it didn’t seem to be getting any closer.

Finally, Dimidas landed on the pillar and I got off him. He was panting heavily from the exertion, but he had actually carried me up here.

“Hey,” he said. “I actually landed correctly this time.”

I turned to him. “Really? That’s great!”

“Looks like you helped me. Now, look around and be amazed.”

I did what he said and my jaw dropped. The land outside our home was huge, far bigger than I imagined. I couldn’t even see where it ended. Closer to where we were, it seemed to be one single color, a dusty yellow.

But further on, there was green. So much green. As I continued to look around, I noticed something. It was a set of mountains and nothing grew around it and the ground was a blackish grey. Each mountain seemed to emit a pillar of grey smoke.

“Dimidas, why does that place look so different?” I asked him, pointing to the mountains.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think too much of it, before. I just guessed it was a part of the landscape.” he replied.

“Oh, it’s anything but that.” a different voice said from behind us. We both jumped and whipped around to see who it was. It was a female griffin, about the same age as Dimidas.

She laughed at our surprise. “Oh, no need to be so jumpy, boys.” she teased.

We both said nothing.

“That place, over there, is called Dragon’s Land. It’s where the dragons live. Or should I say, more correctly, sleep. Since they own the whole land.” she explained.

I turned back around to look at the place. “Dragon’s Land,” I echoed, making sure to keep that name on my tongue. Once I knew how to fly, I would fly over to Dragon’s Land, to see if the griffins really were true.

“Now come on, you naughty boys, Blackbird doesn’t allow us to stand on the pillar. Come back down before he comes back from the hunt.” she told us.

Dimidas nodded. “Allexia has a point. Come on, Dante, let’s get off of here.”

I sighed and jumped back on his back. He then took off, following Allexia down. Going down seemed easier for me to handle than going up, and in no time we were back on the ground. And, again, Dimidas stuck the landing.

He laughed. “Thank you, Dante, for letting me take you up there. I’ve only been up there once with Kage, and we both loved it. I also thank you for helping me stick my landing.”

I smiled. “I did nothing except weigh you down. But you’re welcome anyway. Thank you for taking me up there, I loved it more than you know.”

Suddenly, the screeching call of the males returning from their hunt sounded through the sky. I looked back at Dimidas. We both bid a silent goodbye and ran to our caves, ready to enjoy some good food.

[blackwolf22]

Love this!!

[Nomonym]

Stalk. Stalk. Stalk.

[Megaguirus]

After eating, I ran right up to Kage to ask him all sorts of questions. After seeing the world beyond, I had to see what he had to say about it. I only got a taste. It seemed like I wasn't the only one, other younger grifflings were asking him too. But Kage wasn't the only one to go hunting, so he wasn't entirely overwhelmed.

"Kage!" I called as I bounded toward him.

He smiled when he saw me. "Dante! I was waiting for you. I'm ready, ask me any question you have."

I asked him the first question that came to mind. "Were you able to go into Dragon's Land?" the moment after I asked that, I scolded myself. That was a stupid question. I knew exactly what his answer was going to be.

"No," he replied. "However, I did see a dragon."

I gasped, and moved even closer to him. Some other grifflings seemed to lean in closer as well.

"I couldn't get that good of a look, but it was sleeping, curled around something. It seemed to be pitch black."

"Where was it?"

"Close to the mountain the dragons live in. It's too close to be spotted from the pillar, which was why I was unaware of it."

"What was it guarding?"

"I don't know. I asked Blackbird but he told me to never bring it up again. Dragon's Land was to not be spoken of. I wish I could tell you more, Dante, but he is very strict about these things." he replied.

I sighed. "That's okay, I'll just have to investigate further when I can fly."

He smiled. "That's the spirit."

I sat down, a little disappointed. Of course it would be Blackbird hindering my curiosity. I couldn't get my feathers in soon enough.

"Do you have any other questions?" he asked.

I shook my head, looking to the ground.

He nuzzled me softly. I felt his beak move close to my ear. "I know how hard it is, feeling so trapped. But I'll let you in on a secret, hunting isn't any freer than this. Don't get your hopes up, like I did mine. Blackbird has us hunt in large groups, and we're not allowed to go too far from the hunting spot. If my father wasn't right beside me, I would've inched closer to the dragon. I'm not in the group Blackbird leads, so I'm a little more free to explore." he whispered quickly before pulling away to look like he didn't give away suspicious info.

I smiled, my disappointment fading away. Kage was the only one who didn't fear or judge me. He seemed to really like me and how different I was from the others. His brother, on the other hand, seemed to be a little more strict, though still respected me.

Speaking of which, Dimidas was nowhere to be seen. "Where's your brother?" I asked Kage.

"Oh, he's talking with Blackbird. Hopefully he can start hunting tomorrow. Taking you up to the pillar seemed to do the trick, now he can land and take off perfectly." he replied.

"That's excellent! I hope he can start tomorrow." I said with a smile.

"Yeah, I hope so too, it would be nice to hunt with my brother. It would be even greater to hunt with you, though, because I can just imagine how great at hunting you would be. Play is very telling of how a griffin will hunt, and I can just tell how great you'd be."

"Thanks. When will I get my feathers, anyway? It seems like it's taking ages. I want to hunt as soon as possible to take Lofty's burden."

He chuckled. "Don't feel too sorry about Lofty's burden, she's an amazing hunter and seems to enjoy it. And continue to have patience, you'll get your feathers very soon. If I'm correct, you're one month and two weeks, so I give you three more weeks until you start growing them in."

"Three more weeks? I can't wait that long! And how long does it take for the feathers to grow in?"

"A week at the most. And after that, you can start testing them." he replied.

I sighed and sat back down.

Dimidas came shortly after, slowly walking towards us, his expression unreadable.

"So? What did Blackbird say?" Kage asked.

He sighed before breaking into a big smile. "He said yes! Tomorrow I can start hunting with you, brother!" he exclaimed with a leap.

Kage leapt with him. "That's wonderful!"

I stood up and ran towards them. "Congratulations!"

Dimidas looked at me and smiled. "Thanks, but I couldn't have done it without you. Your weight was just the boost I was needing."

"I'm glad I could help you, even though I didn't do it on purpose."

"Oh, but that's what makes it so good. You weren't even trying to help me, and you did. That's a skill."

"Really?" I said. "Wow, thank you."

He laughed. "You're welcome. Now, who's up for a game until we're called in for the night?"

Almost all of the grifflings cheered and ran to their usual playing grounds.

"You coming?" Kage asked me.

"In a bit," I replied and walked over to Trinity, who was watching us that whole time.

"Those brothers like you a lot," she said as I sat beside her.

I was still smiling. "I know, I'm quite surprised, actually. Since some of the grifflings don't like me much. They find me scary."

"Different is always scary, that's why I have such a hard time opening up to others, or even talking to them."

"But you are talking with me."

"That's because I'm comfortable enough with you that I'm not scared of you."

"I'm glad you feel comfortable with me."

"I'm glad you approached me, even though I was shy when we first met."

"I found you so interesting, of course I had to approach you."

"At least you can approach others. I can't even approach my parents most of the time."

I cocked my head at her. That was a very curious thing to say.

"Now go and play with your friends," she told me. "It's almost sundown, and I want you to get some play in."

I hesitated, but stood up and slowly walked away. "Will you ever join a game?" I asked her.

She stared at me for a bit, but eventually shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, Dante. But I can't see myself playing these games. I like watching them, though."

I sighed. "Okay," and walked off. But I told myself I would get her involved with at least one of our games. It didn't feel right playing without her.

After playing through one game, and winning it, it was time to head out and we all said our goodbyes and parted ways. I smiled seeing Lofty waiting for me at the cave, the eaglets already asleep.

"Did you have fun?" she asked me as I wiggled myself in with the eaglets.

"Yes," I replied.

"Good." she said and sighed. "Dante, I need to talk to you about something."

I paused, worried I'd done something bad that I wasn't aware of. "Yes?"

"As you know, the eaglets are quickly learning how to fly. In a week they should be ready to fledge and leave the nest." she told me.

I gasped. "What? But why can't they stay?"

"Because that's not what eagles do. When they're old enough to fly, they're old enough to leave the nest and start families of their own. Some are late bloomers and may stay in the nest for a little longer, and most are eager to leave and explore. They don't have to be confined like us, and it would be cruel to do so." she explained.

"But it's not cruel to keep us confined?"

"No, because it's for our own good. Dragons want nothing to do with eagles, but they want us griffins dead. This is our only haven from the dragons, no matter how cruel it may seem. I've already told you this, Dante, I don't want to repeat myself."

I was getting tired of Lofty's bias. Dragons just couldn't be as bad as everybody was making them out to be. They just couldn't. But what did I know, I was only guessing. Lofty was the one who had experience.

"Okay, sorry," I said and laid my head down.

She purred and nuzzled me softly. "Don't be sorry, Little One. I know you're curious, but in time, all of your questions will be answered."

That explanation was good enough for me. I let out with one last yawn and closed my eyes, ready to fall asleep. My thoughts focused on the eaglets. It would feel strange in the nest without them. Would Lofty adopt more? Probably not, since she had me. My thoughts didn't carry long until I fell fast asleep.


I slept through the night, which was surprising. Maybe I was outgrowing my problem. I woke when the rest of the nest stirred. The eaglets were getting up, following Lofty. I watched as one stood beside her and squeaked at her.

"Yes?" she asked it.

It spread out its wings and flapped them, jumping off the ground.

She chuckled softly. "Sure, I can give you a boost, hop on." she told it and it hopped on her back.

I ran out of the nest when she took off and watched her fly away. Once she got high enough the eaglet jumped off and soared in the opposite direction, letting out with a victorious call.

"Goodbye!" I called out to it, jumping to make my voice go farther.

The other two eaglets screeched a goodbye as well. I looked down at them and smiled. "Do you want to play with the griffins?" she asked.

They nodded together.

"Then follow me!" I exclaimed and walked to the play area.

It was quieter without Kage and Dimidas. Erion and a few others were playing their usual games, and the older females were just talking with each other. At least the only griffins who were playing currently were around my age, but was that really a good thing? I was bigger than them.

I looked at the eaglets who seemed to be okay with watching, so I looked around for Trinity. She was sitting alone, as usual, just watching the others play. I walked over to her, sitting down beside her. The eaglets followed.

"Good morning," I greeted.

"Good morning," she greeted back, looking at the eaglets. "I heard that one left today." she said.

I nodded. "He was the oldest. Since he was gone, I decided to take these two with me, maybe hoping I could engage them in some play."

"And why aren't you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just wanted to talk to you more?"

She smiled. "That's kind of you, Dante. Thank you,"

"You're welcome," I replied and looked at her curiously. "Why do you like watching from the sidelines, not wanting to get involved?"

"Because introducing myself to others is hard. The only reason why I talk to you is because you approach me. But please don't feel sorry for me, my parents say that it is perfectly natural. It's just who I am, and I should be proud of that." she replied with a smile.

Hearing those words made me smile. Especially her last sentence. It's just who I am, and I should be proud of that. Perfectly acceptable reason to me. "That's a neat way to look at things."

"Thanks." she chuckled and shoved me forward. "Now go and play with Erion and the others. I'll be fine here, and the hunting party will be back soon anyway."

I staggered from her push and laughed. "Fine, fine, no need to push!" I joked and walked towards the bunch, the eaglets following me.

Erion's eyes lit up when he saw me and the eaglets approach. "Dante!" he exclaimed, the others jumping to attention. "I was wondering when you'd join."

"You were waiting for me?"

"Of course! Glad to see the eaglets, too! Now come on, we've got a game to play!" he said and we all gathered.

"So, what's the game?" I asked.

"We stand in a line, with a space between each of us, and starting from the back, we jump over each other. No name for it yet. Normally we don't let those with grown wings in, but the eaglets shouldn't break the rules." he explained simply.

"Sounds like fun!" I exclaimed.

"Then let's get started!"

And so the games began. Since the game had no winners, we could continue it for as long as we'd like. But, it had to end when the hunting party came back. All that play made me hungry, so I bounded for Lofty, the eaglets in close pursuit.

When we were finished eating, I joined back up with the others, without the eaglets this time, since they had Lofty. Kage and Dimidas had the rest of the grifflings sitting in front of them. The brothers seemed to be talking, and everyone else was listening in. I decided to listen in on it myself, sitting right beside Trinity in the far back.

"And there it was, a great massive dragon lunging at us from The Cove. Looking just as nightmarish as described." Kage had just finished explaining.

Gasps came from the crowd. "Did it attack you?" one asked.

"No, but it breathed fire at us. Thankfully, with Blackbird's guidance, we all got away safely." Kage replied.

"What did it look like?" asked another.

"It was blue, like The Cove's waters. Its eyes were a burning yellow, and hundreds of sharp white teeth glistened in its jaws. I was sure it was going to eat us all." Dimidas described.

While the others were amazed and frightened, I was curious and jealous. This was the second dragon Kage saw, that he told me of. And here I was, stuck in this prison, playing games with grifflings. Todays game was great and all, but seeing a dragon would've been better.

I couldn't stop the question coming from my beak in time. "Did it just want to talk?" right after I asked that, I scolded myself ten times over. Idiot. Now everybody was going to yell at me for being curious about dragons.

Instead, they all looked at me and laughed. Which hurt just as much. "Of course not, silly. The dragon wanted to eat us, that was why it was hiding in The Cove." Dimidas chided.

My face felt hot and my breathing grew rapid. I quickly ran away from the crowd, back towards Lofty who I knew would comfort me. I buried my head in her feathers and began to cry.

"What happened, Little One?" she asked me.

"Kage and Dimidas were telling a story of a dragon they saw and I asked a stupid question and they all laughed at me." I sputtered as fast as I could so I could get back to crying.

She gently placed a claw on my back. "Oh, Dante, I'm so sorry. They probably didn't mean to hurt you."

I pulled my face from her feathers and looked up at her. "You think?"

She smiled down at me. "I know. Look who's here to apologize." she told me and pointed her beak to the figure.

I turned around and saw Dimidas looking at me with worried eyes.

"I didn't mean to demean or insult you, Dante." Dimidas apologized. "The question just took me a little off guard and that was the only way to reply. I know how interested you are in dragons, but whatever you dream about isn't always true. They aren't nice like us griffins."

I wiped my eyes. "Okay," I accepted. "Can we play now?" I asked, wanting to forget about the ordeal as fast as possible.

A big grin spread across his face. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "Come on, follow me!" and he quickly bounded away.

I quickly forgot about my troubles and bid Lofty and quick goodbye before sprinting after him. "Wait for me!" I called out as I caught up.


The usual things continued for one more week, until the faithful day the second eaglet decided to leave the nest. He waited until after Lofty came back to use her as a boost. This time, Lofty, Kage and Dimidas were all able to bid him a farewell with me.

Now it was just me and Glory. We fit perfectly in the nest and during the morning hunt, he always followed me around. Everybody was starting to love him as a friend, just as I was starting to feel like Kage and Dimidas were my brothers. We did everything together, and they were so nice to me.

However, as the days passed, I slowly began to feel the loneliness that came with having only one eaglet to play and snuggle with. Sure, the others were there for me, I knew that much, but I couldn't fight the feeling.

I also knew Glory would be leaving any day now. Which didn't help the sick feeling in my stomach. He was already leaving to hunt with Lofty. I knew one day, he wouldn't come back, and she'd tell me he flew off on his own.

After eating the meal Lofty caught for me, since Glory had already eaten while with her, I didn't feel like playing. I just sighed and moped in my nest. Lofty took notice, and talked to me.

"Dante, I know you're upset about the eaglets. I am too. I wasn't expecting them to leave that soon." she began. "But that is what eagles do, and we have to remember that."

"I know, I know, but it still isn't fair that I'm stuck here while they get to fly free." I whined.

She opened her beak to speak and I knew exactly what was coming, so I interrupted her.

"I know what you're going to say. Can't I just whine for once?"

She didn't appreciate my interruption and glared at me. "Don't interrupt me." she growled. "You can't be sure what I was going to say."

Her scolding didn't do what it usually did to me, and I ignored it. "What were you going to say, then?" I snapped.

She huffed, shuffling in her spot as her glare became worse. I could see she was figuring out what to say next, because this was the first time I argued with her. I knew she wasn't used to it. I prepared myself for the worst, when she calmed down and sighed, laying down beside the nest. I looked at her curiously.

"I'm sorry, Dante. I know you're restless, but I don't know what to tell you. There's only so much motherly advice I can give. I wish I could help you, but Blackbird is strict with his rules." she winced when she said that, and I remembered the time he smacked her.

"He is a vicious monster," I spat. "He doesn't know anything." I wanted to protect Lofty from him, but I was also powerless in that aspect.

"No he isn't, he's just tough. He knows the behavior of dragons, and I trust his rules, however confusing they may be." she replied.

I looked at her. "You don't hate him for smacking you? I know I haven't been here long, but I'm sure that wasn't the first time he hit someone. Why haven't you all dethroned him?"

"Dethrone him?" she asked, probably wondering where I got the word. I blamed Kage. "Dante, he is wiser than any of us. Doing so would be a very foolish thing."

I dug my talon into the nest, looking up at the sky. I made a silent vow that day. I would become stronger and wiser than Blackbird, so I could dethrone the monster and take his place. I'd make the perfect ruler. I smiled, I made sure I would stick to that vow.

I stood and looked at Lofty, nuzzling her. "Thanks for the talk, I feel better now. I'm going to play now, see you tonight." I said and bounded out of the cave.

"Have fun!" she called back to me as I ran off.

I never did forget the vow I made between me and the sky.